Sentence No. 158 · 1 September 2026
And it was all so alive that Mary talked more than she had ever talked before—and Colin both talked and listened as he had never done either before.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett — The Secret Garden (1911) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
Notice how the em dash pivots the sentence from Mary to Colin, setting up a parallel: 'talked more than she had ever talked before' mirrors 'talked and listened as he had never done either before.' Spotting that balanced comparison locks the halves into place.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 7 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. Two children discover unexpected joy in each other's company. Putting it back in the author’s order is the puzzle — and the order is rarely arbitrary, which is what the note above is about.
A new sentence from a great book, every day.
Play today’s sentenceFree, no account. Or play this one — it will give the answer away.